Five Reasons Why....

With all the hype surrounding next week's SEC title game, I thought I'd offer my reasons why Alabama is going to defeat Florida.





It's big, there's no denying that. The biggest Conference championship game since before 2003 (that's how far back ESPN.com goes, and I don't feel like going any farther) features 1 vs. 2/3 (depending on the polls). Tim Tebow's last SEC football game. The Alabama-Florida game, televised live at 4 eastern on CBS Saturday, is a match of Olympian proportions. These are my "Five Reasons Why...." Alabama will be the next SEC champion.





1. Alabama can play close, and come from behind to win. As evidenced by Friday night's Auburn game, the Tide knows how to come back from behind. In Florida's closest game (23-20 over Arkansas), they needed the help of some poor officiating calls to win.



2. Speaking of officiating...After getting that help against Arkansas, Urban Meyer decided that the refs weren't performing up to par. He criticized them. And got punished by the SEC. If the game is at all close, which it most likely will be, look for the refs to punish Urban too. There could be a controversial call or two going in Alabama's favor.

3. Tide wins with turnovers. Unless you're the New Orleans Saints, a positive turnover margin is a must-have for winning a football game. Bama's is a +15, while the gators have a margin of only +8 for the season. I'll take the Crimson Crusaders on the turnover battle. Their +15 is even more impressive when they're doing it in a close-game situation. I would expect the team that dominates its opponents more to have a better turnover margin.

4. Florida has a bad character record. from Brandon Spikes' on-field incident (look at the link, in the first line of the fourth paragraph, horrible grammatical error) to the most recent off-field driving violation, the Gators don't seem to be dedicated to playing clean ball. Sure, Bama has recently been on probation, but their offenses were seemingly minor compared to eye-gouging and drunk driving. The affect on the Championship will be merely through the media, but I still have a problem thinking that the arrest of a starting D-lineman will not help the Gators on the field at all.



5. Bama has more names. Sure, Superman wears Florida blue, but he's one person. And last time I checked, there's no I in team. Nope, still none. Sure Brandon Spikes is a force on defense, but the gators at this moment are out of big game receivers. If Percy Harvin hadn't gone pro, this argument would be a moot point. When I think the Crimson Tide, I think McElroy, Ingram, Julio Jones, Leigh Tiffin (he's the kicker, and he's pretty dang good if you don't follow them), Rolando McClain, more athletes. And the fact that Bama can convert these superstars to play together as a team, that means a lot. And as I mentioned here, when a team doesn't revolve around one (or two) players, they win.



Because I've been thinking....Random Ruminations:



>Were Colts coach Jim Caldwell to retire today, he would be the winningest coach to go undefeated with one team (Wally Lemm went 10-0 with the Oilers after they fired Lou Rymkus in 1961).



>I'm worrying about the WTA. It took them two and a half months to fine Serena Williams for her September 12 tirade. Perhaps it's the worst-run professional organization other than the NBA (with dress code Nazi David Stern) or MLB (are steriods really against the rules? are you sure? because everyone's still doing them).



>Is this the end for Tiger "Count Olaf" Woods? A series of unfortunate events seems to have descended upon the great golfer. Maybe it's Jack "Don't call me Nicholson" Nicklaus's way of telling Tiger, "I'm the best. you won't beat my records. If you try, I will beat you. Or your knee. Or your car."



>The Titans aren't going to the playoffs. Until they are in contention in week 17, I won't say that they will.


>As if anyone was in doubt that this would happen ten weeks ago, Charlie Weis is officially no longer the coach at The Dame of Notres. Shocker. As soon as they started discussing potential candidates to replace his job (about three weeks ago) I knew he was done.


>In other no-longer-coaching news, Bobby Bowden retired two days ago. This officially makes JoePa the greatest old man in football.


>And I'm not done yet! Bill Walsh made it to the Hall of Fame with a 102-63-1 record coaching the 49ers (including 3 Super Bowl victories). His successor, George Seifert, coached the Niners to two more championships, more career wins, and a better winning percentage for the seven years he was the coach in the Bay Area. He is not in the Hall. This needs to be amended.


>I'm surprised Dennis Dixon kept the Steelers in the game against Baltimore. It impressed me that the Oregon product wasn't phased throwing to people wearing the same jersey they wore when he completed his first NFL pass.

As we get nearer the playoffs, I will post all you possibly need to know about them.

-cth

THE 4TH OF JULY

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they weer captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. the home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.

Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't.

So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. it's not much to ask for the price they paid.

Remember: Freedom is never free!

I hope you will show your support by sending this to as many people as you can, please. It's time we get the word out that patriotism is NOT a sin, and the Fourth of July has more to it than beer, picnics, and baseball games.

Billy Mays Video

In Memoriam Video by Clayton (facebook user) - MySpace Video

Here it is...the great Billy Mays. His last ad ever.

NBA Finals Blog

Well, one half of the finals are set, as Kobe Bryant and the Lakers dominated the Denver Nuggets by 27 points in game 6 to win the Western Conference Finals. The next half will be covered when Orlando wins tonight, or Orlando or Lebron wins game 7 Monday night.

I say Lebron, because he is Cleveland.

Who else do they have after all?

They have Anderson Varejao.

Oh, yeah, him. He's kind of a softy if you ask me. Who else?

Mo Williams.

Ok, he was the one that threw the ball in for Lebron's shot in game 2. That's impressive. Really impressive...

How about their center, Zydrunas Ilgauskas?

That's a cool name. What's his line?

13 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 1.3 bpg.

Superstar? I think not.

So you see, Lebron James is the Cleveland Cavaliers, whether you want to believe it or not. And last time I checked, one person can't win a championship in a team game. That is why Orlando has a 3-2 lead on him. And why they will win tonight. And what's more, if it gets to seven games in the NBA finals, the Magic are your champions.

Which brings me to my next point. Instead of Kobe v. Lebron everyone was predicting (I laugh in your faces. I never believed that crap for a second.) It will be Kobe v. Dwight Howard/Rashard Lewis/Hedo Turkoglu/the Orlando Magic. But when it comes down to it, the Lakers aren't just Kobe. Close, but not quite.

Pao Gasol is a softy. He won't help. Much.

Andrew Bynum is still young, but he's got talent. I can see 15 or so points per game coming from him.

I like Lamar Odom. I don't know why, but I think he's got something going for him.

But the big show of the Lakers is, of course, Kobe Bryant. He's out to prove that he can win a title without Shaq, and this year's the year. If KG hadn't got hurt, the Celtics would have already won the East and game 1 of the finals would be tomorrow night.

But that is not important, this year is the Lakers' year. Unless, of course, it goes to game seven.

The reason why I think the Magic win if the series goes to seven games is the same reason I knew the Hawks would beat the Heat in game 7 of round 1 and the same reason I believe the Magic will win the Eastern Conference tonight.

They are a better team.

I have laid out the team members of the Lakers, so now it's time to get to the Magic.

Dwight Howard. Superman. He's going to be your biggest Orlando star for the next two weeks.

Rashard Lewis is going to be your clutch man. When a big shot is needed, he's the East's Robert Horry. He has proved that in the Conference Finals, and will continue his last-second heroics against L.A.

Turkoglu will get Orlando some clutch shots as well. He's the Ray Allen in this Big Three, not quite as good statistically, but he can still help.

I referenced Boston's Big Three. Howard, Lewis, and Turkoglu are Orlando's version. They aren't quite as dominant as Garnett, Pierce, and Allen, but they are about to make the NBA Finals, so that's got to amount to something.

My pick is the Lakers in 5, but as I am now saying for the third time, if it gets to that crucial winner-takes-all game seven, my team of choice is Orlando.

Thanks for reading my only NBA blog of the season. We'll do it again this time next year.

-cth

a very thought-provoking video...

in my drive group, we've been watching the movie "everything is spiritual" a rob bell video. I'm going to try to post it all from youtube not sure if its got all of it. be sure you have two hours to committ to watching before you start. my apologies for the spanish subtitles...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFlkJkYNpNk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpaYNeScbJ4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9E4gzbfPtw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G9CtaqxojU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgwwG8M8Lxg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkmBJmhmHww

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=165CCqzEFkg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM9QCay7BGI

That's all of them.

it's been a while...

happy march everyone! there's some stuff I want to talk about today...mainly sports, but hopefully some more important stuff too...

firstly, congratulations, william hayes, you're the titans' new starting defensive tackle! i think he'll do fine filling the hole left by albert haynesworth, who i'm still having trouble seeing in a redskins uni. cutlers mad at the broncos for trying to trade him for cassel, who the pats franchised away to the chiefs. speaking of franchised, the titans are still waiting to sign bo scaife, but as we all know by now, "wait" is mike riendfelt's favorite word during free agency.



in my top five list, we've resigned collins but lost haynesworth and brandon jones. we have not got anyone from anywhere else. so we're just losing players. what is mike riendfelts problem!?!?!?



so anyway, what else was i gonna talk about?



my life is pretty crazy right now...school, church, scouts, you know, the normal times about four. i actually have homework now, and i'm getting more piled on every night. it's not really good, especially since i enjoy putting stuff off as long as i can. latin and precalc are the big ones. hopefully i'll get it all taken care of soon.

just finished the latin outline...waiting for the printer to work...and for itunes genius to update...

so i should talk about all the stuff going on at church...everyone's getting excited about safe sanctuaries...well...mostly everyone. drive group's dwindling at best and once the policy's in place we will be in jeopardy of not existing at all. choir's getting to be easier than it's been in a while because we're just singing songs from five and six years ago which i already know for the most part, and because i'm getting alot better at reading, that helps too.

speaking of reading, i'm doing the pit orchestra for hello dolly @ jpII. the music is really easy, once i figured out, "hey, i'm playing in like six songs. and they're all in C# so i'm basically playing everything sharp. wow this is lame. but fun!" i did all county last weekend (was it really just last weekend?) and i'm ready for more extracurricular sax!

i alluded to something i did recently in the last paragraph, and practically alluded to another. the first would be all county the second (though not chronilogically) is bye bye birdie.

all county was extremely fun. there was alot of inside jokes that me christopher and brionna allude to twice or three times daily during band class. andrea also went, but she skipped out of band this semester to take accounting. swagger was a big inside joke, and so was the first chair tuba/downbeat/etc. oh and justin.

secondly, christopher and dad were in bye bye birdie last month and i was at six of the thirteen showings of it, i think most of any non-cast member, musician or director, other than mother. it was a really good show everyone who missed it missed a good one.

i don't think i've had a post yet this year...i lost my job and dad is officially unemployed as of last night so the economy's hitting us hard.

other than that, life's pretty much the same...

well consider this blog over.

later,

-cth